The Texas Legislature opens next month under specific instructions to use a 4 percent reduction in general revenue as the starting point in budget talks. Gov. Greg Abbott and the leaders of the House and Senate, Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have instructed state agencies to plan for a such a rollback in funding for 2018 and 2019.
For the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), a 4 percent reduction would mean a loss of $1.06 million in funding by 2019, according to an agency analysis that outlines which programs would bear the brunt of budget cuts. Staff has also prepared a plan in case the enthusiasm for cuts keeps growing, highlighting what TDHCA would lose in the event of a 10 percent general revenue reduction.
Under a 4 percent cut, two programs would be eliminated entirely by 2019: State technical assistance for the Balance of State Continuum of Care and the affordable housing research and information program. The Housing and Health Services Coordination Council would lose more than half of its budget and housing and health services would need to eliminate assistance for an estimated 166 people. The state Housing Trust Fund would also serve fewer people, with an estimated loss of four households. The remaining cuts would come from indirect administration and support for federal activity. Here’s the department’s full breakdown of a 4 percent cut:
In the more extreme case of a 10 percent cut, the Housing and Health Services Coordination Council would be gone by 2019, and 2,400 Texans would no longer receive housing and health services from the state. The Housing Trust Fund would lose nearly $1.3 million, meaning the end of service for 60 more households.
Tables courtesy of TDHCA.
[…] members that affordable housing funding is already under severe threat at the federal and state levels and that the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, which produces nearly all affordable […]